We rolled out of a shallow turn onto short final for Tampa Bay as its gray waters filled the windscreen. I veered left—an adjustment for a flock of ducks who’d opted to swim over flying on this chilly January day, but unlike other times flying low over water, we had the power back. The instructor’s voice came through the headsets with the third confirmation of the aircraft’s configuration: Flaps down, gear up for water landing, water rudder retracted. 

After 9,000 hours of various landing checklists and callouts, including phrases like “gear down, gear checked down” or “down and verified,” ensuring the gear was up seemed counterintuitive—but then again, so is throttling down when just above the water. It all canceled out in one glorious bit of settling into the surface. Despite a seven-knot breeze spreading small ripples across the bay, there was no ricochet off the surface. By ignoring the surrounding airframe (and that’s easy to do), it’s easy enough to believe the Icon A5 is a lot bigger airplane than a 1,510-pound gross Light-Sport Aircraft amphibian. It’s a common reaction.

It’s Bigger On The Inside

The A5 stands out on the ramp—not because of its size; it’s just that the lines are different. The all-composite, high wing could still nestle beneath the Cessna Caravan it was parked nose-to-nose with on the morning of our evaluation flight, but most general aviation birds could do the same. The A5 can really fit into a tight spot, though: After you flip a latch under the wing, walk to the wingtip, where there’s a convenient grab handle. Pull the wing out about a foot, rotate the leading edge up, and walk the wingtip back beneath the horizontal stabilizer. A circular cutout in the outboard leading edge corresponds with a nib underneath the tail, and with a click, the wing locks onto the underside of the stabilizer. The outboard section of the horizontal stabilizer also unlatches for removal, and once you’ve repeated the process on the other side, the A5 has gone from just shy of 35 feet in wingspan to an overall width of 7 feet, 8 inches. The landing gear is even narrower at 5 feet, 8 inches. Whether you want to cut costs by sharing a hangar or eliminate them by trailering your plane home, it’s doable with the A5—the process of folding a wing takes less time than you spent reading this paragraph. Icon is presently working with a trailer manufacturer to develop a custom-designed enclosed trailer for A5 owners. 

All the electrical and pitot-static lines are flexible at the wing joints, and the control linkages for ailerons and flaps connect and disconnect themselves as the wing slides in and out. Total weight to handle at the wingtip is 30 to 40 pounds, and the whole operation requires no outside help. In addition to the latch itself being readily visible if it is unlocked on the preflight walkaround, there’s a light on the annunciator panel if any of the wing or tail locks aren’t positively locked. 

There’s little space wasted with the curvy cowl enclosing the pusher-mounted Rotax 912 iS engine, which drives a three-bladed Sensenich propeller and a fan that nests just inside the cowling. The fan keeps air flowing to improve cooling at times when there wouldn’t be much air moving through otherwise. 

There’s a single 20-gallon tank below the baggage floor, and the fuel selector is overhead, along with the fuse panel. The fuel shutoff points forward to fly. Having the fuel centrally located cuts down on weight in the wings and reduces the challenges of the folding wing design. 

On land, the A5 sits on a retractable tricycle landing gear. The electro-mechanical system has two actuators, with one on the nose gear and the other driving both mains. 

There are a lot of features packed into the exterior of the A5, but when you open up the canopy and climb in, the larger-airplane illusion begins to set in. With a 46-inch-wide cabin, you’re going to have elbow room. The A5 POH stresses that the maximum weight for a single occupant is 250 pounds—and the author is right near that figure. With a slender CFI and 7 gallons aboard, we were right at max takeoff weight on a near-standard day. The POH stresses the 250-pound figure is structural, not a weight and balance issue, and emphasizes that soft-soled shoes, particularly for heavy folks, are a necessity to prevent damage. Bring your boat shoes and flip-flops.

The base model A5 is equipped with round gauges and a Garmin 796 GPS docked into the center of the instrument panel; a Garmin G3x system is a $15,500 option, or $25,000 adds a two-axis autopilot to the G3x. 

Clear Prop! 

As the canopy closes, the instinct is to duck down and toward the center the first few times—after all, it’s an LSA. Once the canopy is down and latched with its single overhead handle, you’ll realize it was never that tight of a fit to begin with. The seats are fixed in position, but the rudder pedals adjust to accommodate most any pilot height. 

Removing the safety pin for the ballistic parachute is one of the last steps before you start burning fuel. The Icon Parachute System has no hard altitude limitations, although optimal deployment is 500 feet above the surface. The descent under canopy comes down at about 1,400 feet per minute—it’d be a firm arrival but about 300 FPM slower than the Cirrus CAPS parachute system, which has saved plenty of pilots and passengers.  

When you holler “clear,” make it count because that whirly slicer-dicer is back out of sight, and you never know who may have wandered up to take a look at things. Taxiing the A5 is straightforward with its free-castoring nosewheel and differential braking. If you’ve flown anything with a similar setup, you’ll be right at home. The only time that anything required more than a breath on the brake pedals was making a right turn to clear the runway with a left crosswind. Visibility on the ground is phenomenal from shoulder-to-shoulder. The instrument panel sits low and unobtrusive, and the expanse of polycarbonate makes the airplane almost invisible to the pilot’s eye within minutes. 

Lining up for takeoff with a 7-knot quartering crosswind, we set up just a little bit on the downwind side of centerline but had no problem tracking straight for the takeoff roll. Icon company pilot Sean Stamps pointed out the design’s max demonstrated crosswind component is 12 knots but that he’d be comfortable with more if needed. In talking to other pilots with A5 experience, that sentiment is echoed without prompting.

We rotated around 50 knots and climbed out on the angle of attack gauge’s white line—A5 instrument panels feature an AOA gauge top and center of the instrument panel, and that’s the reference used more than airspeeds, although I peeked at the ASI; that was about 60 knots, for those who want to know. The initial climb at max takeoff weight and 5,500 RPM weren’t anything to write home about, 500 feet per minute more or less. We were bouncing around on a turbulent day and didn’t have far to climb, between the overcast just above and the seaplane practice area just to the south. In warmer weather, the side windows pop out to add airflow; on this January day, the eyeball vents on either side of the panel gave plenty of ventilation.

On land, normal takeoffs are performed with flaps up; short and soft field takeoffs are performed with 15 degrees of flaps. Landings are normally done with full flaps (30 degrees) on land or water; water takeoffs are flown with full flaps, retracting to half flaps at 200 feet and zero flaps at 300 feet. 

In-flight, the A5 handles well. The stick forces balance between pitch and roll. The ailerons are very responsive but require a bit of rudder to keep the ball centered. Not a lot of rudder, mind you; just enough to keep all your limbs in the game. Given the A5’s collection of aerodynamic vanes, vortex generators and cuffed leading edges, one could assume there were some nasty flying qualities in hiding, but we ran through a series of stalls, and the spin-resistant wing, along with its row of vortex generators, behaved beautifully. The nose settled just below the horizon, and the ailerons remained effective below stall speed as the A5 set up about a 1,000 FPM elevator ride down under full control, no fancy rudder dances required. 

As we accelerated from the stall series, it only took a few blips of elevator trim on the left-side stick transitioning back to cruising speed, and power changes in the pattern required no real trim changes, despite the high-mounted pusher engine, a configuration that, on other planes, tends to raise havoc when flaps are extended. 

The aileron effectiveness at low speed really revealed itself on approach to the water landings, as flocks of waterfowl required a few adjustments to the desired touchdown spot. It didn’t require aggressive maneuvering, but the airplane felt solid all the way through the minor turns until touchdown.

Water landings were smooth, and handling was straightforward. Below 10 knots, the water rudder has authority enough for directional control, including a turn downwind, despite the A5’s tendency to weathervane. With the water rudder retracted, accelerating to 20 knots sets up a very stable step taxi and prompted the first comparison of the day to a jet ski. The sea-
wings, sponsons just below the canopy rails, lend stability at low and high speeds on the water. The wingtips are designed to tolerate a brush with the water at speed but aren’t intended to do that intentionally. 

Making A Splash

To say the Icon A5 amphibious light sport aircraft shook the industry with its arrival may be light sport aviation’s understatement of the last decade. The A5 burst onto the scene and carried a continual string of headlines—some effusive, others less than positive.

The design took flight with the first prototype in July 2008, and it took seven years before the first customer aircraft was flown and delivered. In that span of time, engineers went back to the drawing board several times, resulting in aerodynamic cleanups, a completely different “spin-resistant” wing with cuffed leading edges, and a purchase price that grew from $139,000 in 2008 to $247,000 in 2015. The A5 base price now is up to $359,000.

There were struggles with funding as the company sought investors—ultimately winding up with a strong infusion of foreign money, a similar route that other manufacturers have taken, including Cirrus, Piper and Continental Motors. Production issues came and went; for a while, Cirrus was lined up to produce composite components, although that never came to fruition. Icon wound up with large production facilities in Tijuana, Mexico, and Vacaville, California.  

A trio of accidents tarnished the Icon name in 2017. All three got chalked up to pilot error—specifically, bad judgment calls. But with the A5 fleet being rather small, those three accidents got a lot of attention despite the human factors that were to blame. Some blamed the company’s promotional materials for inspiring overzealous maneuvering at low altitudes. Magazines and advertisers have sold issues and airplanes for decades with images of airplanes in breathtaking showcases—such as a Learjet climbing steeply with a runway in the background, almost appearing to be vertical, or of a Maule flying out of the door of its factory hangar in Moultrie, Georgia. The advertising tactic was nothing new, but it was current and public.

Icon published “Low Flying Guidelines,” a four-page document that basically asserted that flying low was part of Icon ownership: “Low altitude flying can be one of the most rewarding and exciting types of flying possible, but it also comes with an inherent set of additional risks that require additional considerations,” it said. This publication drove home the company’s stance on lower bank angles below a 300-foot above-ground level “soft deck,” how to plan for low-altitude flying, and to be considerate of those who share the surroundings. “Do not show off,” the document concludes. “While flying, be aware of who is around you and empathize with how they may perceive your flying.”

At AirVenture 2021, Icon exhibited the app it has developed for A5 pilots, which essentially takes the threat matrix that military veterans are well familiar with and adapts it to Icon flight operations. The app considers weather, experience, familiarity with the surroundings and a host of other criteria and conjures a score of risk for a particular flight, then lets the pilot consider whether that’s a risk they’re comfortable with or maybe a few parameters might be worth revisiting before flight. 

A New Skipper At The Helm

In January 2022, Icon announced a major leadership change—and the change was a promotion from within. Jerry Meyer was named interim CEO, having served with the company since 2016 as director of sales for the western U.S. and head of marketing. Meyer is a naval aviator, having flown the T-45 Goshawk and E-2C Hawkeye. His flying credentials are solid, and so are his business and academic backgrounds. Meyer has an MBA in marketing and strategy from Northwestern University and has worked for Procter & Gamble, managing the brand for Tide. He’s rated for land and seaplanes and a CFII, to boot. His work with the company to date has included planning Icon’s product and corporate roadmap, and he’ll continue that work in his new role.  

Building A5s isn’t the company’s only ability or priority at the moment. With a 300,000 square-foot facility in Tijuana capable of carbon fiber composite manufacturing, final assembly and paint, and a facility half that size in Vacaville, the company has capacity to spare. “Those facilities could build 1,000 airplanes a year, but we’re not at that run rate, as we all know,” Meyer said. “That’s a huge part of our cost structure. What we’re looking to do is use our well-trained team and facilities by bringing potential partners to leverage the expertise we built.” So, in a curious turn, Icon went from seeking out other manufacturers to do its composite work in the early days to having the ability to do contract work for other manufacturers in the aviation, automotive and powersport industries. 

Meyer said that Icon has done well insulating itself from the global supply chain crisis by stocking supplies ahead of time and actively monitoring lead times on products. “We’ve had no production delays as a result of supply chain issues,” Meyer said. The shortage of computer chips that has sidelined some auto manufacturers has been a concern to the company—particularly electronic components related to the annunciator panel, microswitches for the wing and tail locks, and engine monitoring systems. The 150^th A5 just took flight as we went to press. The company is presently completing two to three airplanes a month and has about 24 airplanes lined up for production. 

Coming Soon: Certified Edition

The S-LSA category of aircraft is a double-edged sword. It created a pathway for bringing modern, innovative designs to market in the United States. The certification standards are ASTM, not FAA, though, and as such, few nations recognize the LSA certification standards. At AirVenture 2021, Icon pulled the curtain back on its A5 Certified Edition. By pursuing FAA certification in the primary category, Icon will be able to export the design abroad—Canada and Caribbean countries that were previously off-limits have been tossed around as great opportunities for the A5.  

“We’ve submitted the paperwork required—and for us, it largely is a paperwork exercise,” Meyer said, indicating that Icon expects no requirement for changes to the aircraft as it is currently produced. It expects type certification around June of this year. “We had hoped it would be sooner. Last summer, when we announced it, we were hoping it would be last fall or maybe before the end of the year.” Being certified in the primary category means that pilots will have to hold at least a private pilot certificate to operate the aircraft. The Certified Edition A5 is priced at $399,000. 

Bottom Line

The A5 is not a practical airplane for most of us. Its limited useful load means that two large adults would have a tough time being legal, and any takeoff with full fuel would nearly have to be solo. It isn’t fast, and speed is the name of the game for a lot of folks when it comes to their choice of airplanes. 

It is comfortable—the only single-engine aircraft with a wider cabin that spring to mind are the Commander 112/114 and Cirrus SR-series models. The A5 doesn’t climb amazingly at gross, but what 100-horsepower two-seater does? All that said, the A5 isn’t intended to be practical—it’s meant to be fun. Instead of motoring around with full tanks, keeping fuel around 7-8 gallons is reasonable, considering the injected Rotax sips just over 4 gallons an hour at cruise down low. Whether you’re planning to go solo or take skinny folks at the beach for an airplane ride, the A5 can do that. As long as you respect the airplane’s limitations and can afford its price tag, it’ll put a smile on your face. At the end of the day, isn’t that why most of us fly? 

The ICON A5: Art Meets Aviation

The post The Icon A5: An LSA Amphib That Handles Like A Dream appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

An amphibious seaplane 10 years in the making from napkin-drawing concept to delivered product, the ICON A5 is a story that takes us deep into a different world—a place where design and form triumph over profit margin, and where flying is an emotional experience instead of one measured with graphs and ledgers. It’s a fascinating journey that begins where pure stick-and-rudder flying left off and where the most advanced engineering in aeronautics begins. At its essence, it’s a love story between human, machine and sky.

The ICON story is also one of transformation. It’s a tale of firsts that recalls aviation’s great period—that era of Howard Hughes and Kelly Johnson and Glenn Curtiss, when aircraft were created with passion and a sense of adventure.

Philosophy

Quite a bit has been written about ICON since former Air Force pilot and Stanford graduate Kirk Hawkins formed the company with his friend, entrepreneur and Harvard grad Steen Strand, in 2006. The catalyst for forming an aircraft company was the FAA’s decision to create the light-sport category. Hawkins’ and Strand’s idea was to inject fun back into general aviation through a unique light-sport aircraft. They envisioned an airplane that would appeal to an untapped market of non-aviators with a penchant for adventure. Hawkins asserts, “Many airplane companies design a plane and look for a market for it—we started with a market and designed a plane for it.”

And what a different market it was. On one of my early visits to ICON’s facility in Los Angeles, they displayed a board where they named five target consumer profiles for the A5, along with their characteristics. I remember there was a “Blake.” Blake was a young, successful guy with lots of disposable income and an attraction to technology. He did hip things in cool places with equally cool friends. “Blake” indulged in hard work—probably a young executive or entrepreneur—and craved adventure: fast watercraft, fast motorcycles, fast cars. Blake is one of the key profiles around whom the A5 was created. It’s a potential $30 billion dollar market.

Design

A defining element of ICON is the company’s design philosophy. An almost fanatical devotion to design drove the looks of the A5. Yes, it was drawn roughly in its present form on a napkin, but ICON’s focus on design was paralleled only in the worlds of high-end sports cars and motorcycles, not airplanes.

So meticulous is ICON’s concentration on design that entire meetings can be devoted to seemingly insignificant items like handholds and switch placement. The result is an aircraft that’s based on flowing, dynamic design with functionality worked into it. It’s art in a functional sense. One look at any current GA airplane, and you’ll notice the lack of true design, especially in legacy aircraft. It may be debatable, but the last great soul-stirring GA aircraft designs were made, perhaps, in the 1930s and ’40s.

Hawkins has looked to companies like Apple, BMW and Oakley for their consumer-driven innovation and design philosophies. “Everything about this airplane is measured by its benefit to the user,” Hawkins tells a handful of us pilots. “What drives our design is the total user experience: everything from how you feel when you look at it, touch it, move a switch, get in it, to the flying experience itself.”

An entire book could be written just about ICON’s design focus, but suffice it to say that a close-up look at the A5 will reveal the nuances in design that were led by ICON’s Klaus Tritschler, former BMW Designworks Creative Director and respected motorsport designer. “Usually, when a prototype goes to production, it is a disappointment,” says Tritschler. “I wanted the opposite.” The result is a visible labor of love, and a beautiful marriage of design, function and aerodynamics.

The Airplane

I wanted to dislike the A5. So much rumor has flowed through the industry—and nine years is a long time to deliver a two-place airplane—that I wanted to believe the negative hype and find an airplane that was a dog—underpowered with nothing more than a pretty face. What I found rocked my stick-and-rudder world.

Just as ICON focused one eye on pure design, the other was laser-focused on aerodynamic innovation. What they’ve accomplished with the A5 from an engineering perspective is as interesting as anything the Skunkworks could have conjured up. Volumes could be written about the A5’s Seawings™ and how they keep the airplane from tipping. Or its planing wingtips, removable windows, spin resistance or foldable wings. It’s different from anything that came before it.

If you’re wondering about range, speed and payload, then you already don’t get this airplane. The A5 is purely about fun. It makes no claims otherwise. And, to get the elephant in the room out of the way, it’s an expensive toy—one in the same category as a Ducati motorcycle or top-of-the-line Sea-Doo or sports car. “We’re competing with sports cars, RVs, second homes,” Hawkins explains, “We’re telling the consumer, ‘Flying is accessible to you for fun.’ It’s not just about transportation.” The A5 appeals 98% to vanity and ego, and 2% to utility, and that’s just fine.

Flying The ICON A5

First, the cockpit is completely different from what any pilot is used to. It doesn’t look like an airplane cockpit—especially the panel. In keeping with ICON’s philosophy, the interior was designed in conjunction with sports-car maker Lotus and other top designers. From the seats to the canopy, to everything in between, this isn’t your grandfather’s GA airplane. Other than a stick (which was beautifully designed with a curve that reminds one of the figures in Titian’s best paintings) and rudder pedals, you wouldn’t know you were in an airplane. The most prominent feature is an angle-of-attack indicator, which is the primary instrument.

Everything is ergonomically designed, with the seats reminding me of the Recaros installed in expensive sports cars. The view through the one-piece canopy is breathtaking, with the vast expanse of Lake Berryessa in California’s wine country splayed out before me. The lake is calm and sparkling in its deep-green hues, and the stark white and red of the A5 is impressive against it. It looks like something Batman would fly—both aggressive and graceful.

The A5 wing is thick, with marked differences along its leading edge. It isn’t a plain wing, but includes cuffs, drooping tips, dropped leading edges, air dams and vortex generators along a small section. I note that it looks heavy, and I wonder how the 100 hp Rotax engine will handle the airplane. After startup (which was nothing special), we water-taxi to get a feel for the A5 on the lake.

For the full evaluation, I’ll fly with both Hawkins and Jeremy Brunn, ICON’s Director of Training. Brunn is a former US Navy F/A-18 and military test pilot and is creating an entire training program for the A5 which, like the airplane itself, will stand flight instruction on its head and deliver a completely different experience.

Takeoff, like everything in the A5, is simple. Seaplanes (the A5 is technically a flying boat) are finicky at takeoff. The airplane has to be maneuvered onto “the step,” which is a location on the hull where an ideal pitch angle for takeoff is reached. Then the airplane is coaxed into the air, while the pilot finesses a lot of control inputs. Brunn, however, had me keep my hands completely off the stick and add full power while keeping the airplane straight with rudder. With my hands at my side, the A5 rose onto the step, then gracefully into the air. Not a finger.

The view is spectacular, with the pilot and passenger sitting well ahead of the wing. To my surprise, the A5 climbed easily into the 85-degree day, even loaded with Brunn, myself and plenty of fuel. We were headed to an asphalt strip to experience the A5’s runway handling, and we were climbing at a good 500 fpm and cruising at an honest 85 knots with the side windows out and each of us resting an elbow on the sill. This is seaplane flying at its absolute best.

The A5 handles like silk cloth on polished brass. Control movements are made with your fingers and wrist, not your shoulder. Slight pressure on the controls, and the A5 obediently acquiesces. We did flap and no-flap landings and power-off glides. In each case, it performed like a pilot’s airplane. It should be noted that Chief Test Pilot and Engineering Fellow Jon Karkow has really created something beautiful here. The control harmony is exquisite and sensuous. Kudos to the entire engineering team.

Then came the real fun with Hawkins in the airplane. “Pull the power and ease the stick back all the way,” he instructed. With the nose at 25 degrees above the horizon and the altimeter reading 800 feet AGL, he added, “Now, as you feel it buffet, put in full rudder and hold the stick all the way back.”

I’ve been flying for a long time, and what Hawkins told me to do—especially this low—went against everything in my being. I looked at him and hesitated, while visions of life played like a film reel in my head. “Go ahead,” he pressed. I did as he said, expecting the A5 to roll over to the left—as any airplane would—and begin autorotation in a spin. Instead, it just bucked and protested like an annoyed horse and kept on flying. With full power applied, the stick in my gut and a full leg of left rudder, it even showed a slight climb. All the while the ailerons were fully effective. Crazy.

Landings are so simple a beginner can do them. Normally, seaplane landings can be “an event” with all the possible variables. But using just the AOA indicator as Hawkins suggested, the A5 came down like Sully on the Hudson (I can’t wait till he flies this thing). A perfect coda of spray ended our 90 minutes of flying.

Training

Forty percent of existing orders for the A5 are from non-pilots. Like everything else in ICON’s world, a customized training program is being built for the A5 by Brunn and his team. Training will be mandatory for all buyers regardless of their expertise. The program will use a military-inspired approach (a large part of the staff is ex-military) and will break skills into basic components.
Training for a new pilot will consist of 22 to 27 “events,” with each event being a desired skill, such as water-taxiing, or landings. ICON’s goal is to train a new pilot in 14 days. The program will use advanced training materials and simulations, with a proficiency-based outcome. ICON won’t allow a pilot to operate the A5 without passing specific proficiency milestone—this includes rated and current seaplane pilots. The training philosophy, syllabus and manuals are all being built from the ground up.

What’s Next

Now, ICON’s real work begins. They’re relocating all their facilities to a dedicated campus with two 140,000-square- foot state-of-the-art buildings at Nut Tree Airport (KVCB) near Vacaville, Calif., by Q4 of this year.

ICON plans to complete 60 aircraft by EAA AirVenture 2016 and 560 in 2017. They plan to stabilize at about 500 aircraft per year (industry-wide, only about 1,000 airplanes per year are delivered). The first three years of production are already sold out. In another industry first, ICON created custom tooling that’s generations ahead of most advanced tooling in use today. Cirrus Aircraft is providing the carbon-fiber sub-assemblies. Hawkins says they can assemble an A5 in about nine days once the facility is at full capacity.

What ICON has done here is special. From their focus on design, to their engineering obsession, to their first-of-its kind training program, to their marketing approach and custom AOA display, ICON has done things in a wildly different way. The A5 is an absolute kick in the pants to fly, and even ignoring all the marketing-speak and entrepreneurial hype, it does put the fun and passion back into flying. ICON has created a safe airplane that may foretell a new way to design, market and sell aviation to a largely uninterested public. We may be talking about this moment for a long time.

All About That Angle Of Attack

One of the most-talked-about features of the A5 will be the integrated angle-of-attack (AOA) indicator. ICON created their own (of course) and placed it in a prominent spot on the panel. It’s intuitive, clear and one of the most useful instruments I’ve ever used. If you’ve never flown with an AOA, you need to try it. It’s a transformative experience. The military has been flying AOA (they call it flying the “alpha”) for decades and for good reason: It ignores the effects of weight and temperature. AOA is a direct indication of “lift health,” whereas our current measurement—airspeed—is really only a secondary indicator. Once you fly AOA, you’ll find yourself not looking at airspeed much. It’s a liberating feeling, especially when it’s much safer.

To review, angle of attack is the angle between the wing’s chord line and the relative wind. More simply, it’s the angle between where the airplane is pointing and where it’s actually going. In a pull-up from a steep dive, for example, the airplane could be moving straight down from inertia, even though the nose is almost level with the horizon. In that case, the angle of attack is very high. All aircraft have a critical angle of attack that’s part of their design. It’s the angle at which the wing will no longer produce lift due to a separation of airflow from the wing. Lift is lost, and a stall occurs.

An AOA indicator displays this angle of attack in a visual way. ICON’s AOA displays the familiar side view of an airfoil, just like all the FAA drawings from our private pilot days. That airfoil pivots around a scale (like a speedometer) that’s graduated in green, then yellow, then red. The airfoil depiction pivots as the airplane is maneuvered—just like your real wing—and shows the pilot exactly what the wing is doing in real time. Keep it out of the red, and you won’t stall. Simple as that.

It’s transformative in a number of ways. First, you can land the A5 using just the AOA and nothing else. I did that by covering the entire panel except for the AOA. It’s easier than the most basic video game you can think of. There’s a line depicted on the instrument face where you place your airfoil icon for approach. You simply move your stick until the airfoil is even with that line. Then, you hold that airfoil on that line until you’re 10 feet or so above the water. Then you ease the stick back to the middle of the yellow band, and your A5 kisses the water like a seasoned pro.

Keep in mind this is a VFR-only airplane, so we’re not addressing instrument flight. Still, the AOA functions as your primary instrument. By placing the wing at a specific AOA as depicted on
the instrument, your airspeed takes care of itself.

We all know that a steep angle of bank increases stall speed. How many of you can recite your stall speed in a 50-degree bank? That’s just it, many pilots have no idea. So when they’re in a steep turn down low, they have no idea what the margin above stall is. Now imagine an instrument that tells you that. You can crank the wings over to whatever bank you like, while keeping that indicator well away from the red. You can be heavy or light; it doesn’t matter. The AOA compensates for those variables.

For my part, I’m a strong believer in AOA indicators. Rather than debate it, I suggest all pilots try an AOA-equipped airplane for themselves. It really changes how you fly. ICON’s AOA is particularly intuitive and easy to use.

The post The ICON A5: Art Meets Aviation appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

ICON A5
SPECIFICATIONS
Standard Base Price:	$197,000
Price As Flown (ICON 100 Founders Edition):	$247,000
Engine:	Rotax 912 (100 hp) (optional 912 iS)
Seats:	2
Gear:	Retractable gear
Gross Weight (lbs.):	1510
Useful Load (lbs.):	430-550
Fuel Capacity:	20 gal usable
Fuel:	91 octane auto gas or 100LL
PERFORMANCE
Fuel Burn:	3.8 gph @ cruise
Range:	427 nm (45-min reserve)
Endurance (hrs.):	5 hrs
Vne (KCAS):	120 (138 mph)
Max Speed (KTAS):	95 (108 mph)
Cruise Speed KTAS:	84 (95 mph) @ 5000 rpm at 8000 ft.
Stall (Clean/Flaps, KCAS):	45/39
Maneuvering Speed (KCAS):	87
Takeoff Distance (Runway on Standard Day/Sea Level, ft.):	710
Landing Distance (Runway on Standard Day/Sea Level,ft.):	530
Takeoff Distance (Water on Standard Day/Sea Level, ft.):	920
Landing Distance (Water on Standard Day/Sea Level, ft.):	840
Max Crosswind (kts.):	12
Service Ceiling (ft.):	15,000
Glide Ratio	9:1

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